Gunman Gives Up, Ending Siege

Hostage Ok

The siege of Lill Avenue ended peacefully after nearly 36 hours early Saturday with the surrender of gunman John Pasch and the release of his 74-year-old hostage.

The resolution of the tense drama bore out the strategy of top police officials, who decided to outwait the 57-year-old unemployed machinist rather than storm the house where he was holding as hostage his neighbor Jean Wiwatowski.

Pasch`s surrender came suddenly as police ringing the area prepared for another night of their vigil, aided by fire department light trucks that bathed the hostage house in a harsh, surreal light.

``Mr. Pasch surrendered on his own at 2:45 a.m.,`` Deputy Police Chief Richard Rochford said. ``No one was injured. He was very abrupt--he said, `I`m willing to come.` `` Pasch was taken to Belmont Area police headquarters for questioning.

Rochford said two weapons, a pistol and a rifle, were recovered at the scene. He added that one of the turning points in the drama was when Pasch saw Police Supt. Fred Rice on television and heard Rice`s assurances that Pasch would not be harmed.

Mrs. Wiwatowski was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where a spokesman said, ``She`s just tired, hungry and a little stressed--otherwise she appears fine.``

Since Thursday afternoon, Pasch, 57, who faces two murder charges in the fatal shooting of his landlord and a police officer, had been barricaded inside the home of his next-door neighbor at 1427 W. Lill Ave.

One officer said a tentative plan to use tear gas to force Pasch out of the house was rejected Friday afternoon for fear that the gas could seriously harm Wiwatowski, who has a heart ailment.

Besides, police said they took seriously Pasch`s boasts Thursday night that he had crafted homemade bombs to be set off if they tried to storm the house.

``We know this guy loads his own ammunition and probably has black powder. How much, we don`t know,`` said Cmdr. Edward Pleines, of the gang crimes division, one of many high-ranking police officials at the scene. Pleines said that by observing the house through field glasses police learned that ``he`s got a large Mason jar filled with something and he poked two holes through the top and put firecrackers through the lid.``

A member of the police department`s hostage-barricade-terrorist team at the scene described the reclusive Pasch:

``Sly, sharp and extremely treacherous. He would have popped us (police)

at the least provocation. This guy was like a time bomb. He`s the type of guy that everyone picks on and he takes it and then one day he explodes. He`s very good with guns and he`s a good shot. He loves TV; it`s his own little world.`` The officer said police sharpshooters did not fire at Pasch because they had not had a clear shot at him since shortly after the crisis began. He also said police department policy is to shoot at someone holding a hostage only as a last resort.

Several officials said Chicago police did not want to turn the Lill Avenue situation into a disaster in which they might have caused the death of the hostage and started a fire or explosion. Events in Philadelphia last May when an entire block was burned out during a police confrontation are etched into their memories, they said.

Pasch, of 1429 W. Lill Ave., ran into Wiwatowski`s house next door carrying at least two guns just seconds after he fatally shot his landlord, Leslie Shearer, 45, on the street, police said. They said that moments later, after seizing Wiwatowski, Pasch fatally shot Officer Richard Clark, 48, as Clark approached the house.

In opting for a waiting game, police pointed out that by late Friday the 6-foot-2-inch, 300-pound Pasch had gone well over 24 hours without any significant periods of sleep.

Police said they had been in phone contact with Pasch ``more than once an hour`` since early Friday.

In addition to receiving phone calls from police negotiators, Pasch received appeals from his mother and a sister, as well as his son who lives in Indianapolis, police said. Pasch, who is divorced, had not talked to family members in several years, police reported.

Pasch also received a call from Mary Wagner, 69, Wiwatowski`s sister, who lived with her. Only the prompt arrival of police Thursday prevented Pasch from taking Wagner as a second hostage. Police said Wagner talked both to her sister and to Pasch, urging Pasch to free Wiwatowski.

While barricaded in the house, Pasch watched Supt. Rice call for his surrender on television.

After one televised appeal from the scene Friday afternoon, Rice was preparing to leave. Suddenly a police officer ran from the police command post in a nearby Mexican restaurant, Mi Casa Su Casa, at Lill and Southport Avenues, to say that Pasch had demanded in a phone conversation that Rice go back on live television so Pasch could watch him. Rice complied.

In his televised appeals Thursday, Rice told Pasch that he would not be harmed by police if he surrendered peacefully. On Friday, Rice assured Pasch that he meant what he said.

The waiting game being played by police late Friday and early Saturday differed from their conduct Thursday, when they exchanged up to 100 shots with Pasch for about an hour. No one was hit.

Police said the changed strategy matched a change in attitude by Pasch. Immediately after shooting Clark, Pasch called the police on the 911 emergency number, threatening to kill Wiwatowski and any police officer who came into his gunsights. He also told of the homemade bombs.

By Friday morning, John Byrne, assistant deputy police superintendent, said of Pasch: ``He`s sorry two people are dead. He doesn`t want to hurt anyone anymore.``